A known sunroof apparatus is disclosed, for example, in JP2005-153803A which will be hereinafter referred to as Reference 1. The sunroof apparatus disclosed in Reference 1, which is a so-called outer sliding sunroof, includes a pair of driving shoes disposed to face each other in a front-rear direction of a vehicle in a state where a movable panel is fully closed (i.e., in a fully closed state). The pair of driving shoes moves in a rear direction of the vehicle along a guide rail so that a tip end of a lifting link rotatably connected to the guide rail is lifted up together with a rear end portion of the movable panel to thereby bring the movable panel to a tilt-up state. In a case where the pair of driving shoes moves further rearward along the guide rail while the movable panel is being tilted up (i.e., in the tilt-up state), a front end portion of the movable panel slides on the guide rail in a state where the lifting link is guided by the movable panel. The movable panel moves in the rear direction of the vehicle in a state where the movable panel is tilted up so as to be brought to a fully open state.
According to the sunroof apparatus disclosed in Reference 1, the lifting link is immovable relative to the guide rail in the front-rear direction of the vehicle. Thus, the movement of the movable panel in the rear direction during an opening direction thereof is restricted within a range at the most until the front end portion of the movable panel reaches the lifting link. Thus, an opening amount of the movable panel may be reduced.
In order to secure the opening amount of the movable panel, it is proposed to separately provide an appropriate member at the guide rail. In this case, however, it is desirable to restrain an increase of dimension of the guide rail in a width direction of the vehicle.
A need thus exists for a sunroof apparatus which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.